The E-Sylum v7#38, September 19, 2004

[whomren at coinlibrary.com]

Welcome to The E-Sylum: Volume 7, Number 38, September 19, 2004:
an electronic publication of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society.
Copyright (c) 2004, The Numismatic Bibliomania Society.


IVAN HITS PITTSBURGH HARD

   We had been concerned about Hurricane Ivan having an
   effect on Lake Books in Florida, but the storm skirted the
   Tampa / St. Petersburg area.  Remnants of the storm however,
   caused a lot of havoc up here in Pittsburgh this weekend.
   Those who came along on the recent tour of numismatic
   libraries of Pittsburgh know that my home and Tom Fort's
   home are perched atop hills, far from possible flooding.  But
   nearby low-lying areas were flooded Friday as the region was
   hit with an all-time high one-day accumulation of rain from
   Ivan's aftermath.  Roads our bus traveled on were inundated
   as normally docile creeks flowed many feet above their banks.
   States of emergency were declared in my township and
   county as flooding broke out in every corner of the region.
   Leaving the office early Friday afternoon in a downpour that
   hadn't let up all day, I only made it as far as my Mom's house
   in the city and had to spend the night there.  Bridges and roads
   were closed in all directions, leaving me no way to get home.
   The only direct route was under several feet of water, and
   local television showed a rescue worker riding a Jet-Ski down
   the middle of what used to be a road.   Businesses that our bus
   passed within yards of were devastated.  Driving home
   Saturday morning, what is normally a ten-minute trip took
   over an hour.  The creeks had receded, but the rivers didn't
   crest until Saturday evening, at about six feet over flood
   stage downtown, putting Point State Park (near the Hilton
   Hotel, where many ANA conventioneers stayed) under water.
   What a crazy year for weather.  Good thing this didn't happen
   during the convention - I could have had twenty-nine
   bibliophiles stranded here at the house.  At least we'd have
   had no shortage of reading material!    The roads are open
   again but the affected areas will be a mess for some time.


ANS BUILDING NAMES QUIZ

   Pete Smith writes: "I am surprised you didn't get more
   responses to last week's question.  The author of "Historia
   Numorum" was Barclay Vincent Head."   John Burns also
   chimed in with the correct answer.  Now who can tell us the
   next name?  This gentleman "was a 19th century French
   numismatist.  He was probably most well-known for his
   study of Spanish coinage struck in the time of the Visigoths
   and during the rise of Christianity on the Iberian peninsula.
   He is also known for his volumes on Italian Renaissance
   medals."  (No fair peeking at the page 23 article in the
   Summer 2004 issue of American Numismatic Society
   magazine, which is quoted here.  -Editor)


TYPO BRINGS BERGMAN TO LIFE

   John Burns, along with Charles Davis, were the two
   numismatic literature dealers set up at the recent
   American Numismatic Association convention in
   Pittsburgh.   Dave Bowers' article about the convention
   in the September 27th Coin World (p60) mistakenly
   states that "Charles Davis and John Bergman were
   the only two dealers in out-of-print books that set up
   at the show..."    John Bergman's table was a fixture at
   the Long Beach shows for years, and he was a regular
   attendee at ANA conventions as well.  Bergman died
   in October, 2000, and he is sorely missed.  "Big John"
   Burns is a regular dealer at many shows in the northeast
   these days.

   Despite the typo, Dave's article is excellent and makes
   the point that hauling cartons of books to coin shows
   is a hard way to make a living, and these dealers perform
   a great service for the hobby.  He repeated his suggestion
   that "the ANA would do well to encourage more book
   dealers to set up - perhaps by giving them free space.
   Selling out-of-print books helps us all and is every bit as
   "educational" and has all of the same lofty motives as do
   various seminars and exhibits at the show."


PLACING MINIMUM BIDS IN AUCTIONS

   In response to the Paul Bosco "terms of sale" discussion,
   Bob Metzger writes: "I don't "consistently" use minimum
   bids as a guide in auctions, but I do use them "often" for
   items that I am not terribly familiar with, or that are of
   secondary importance in my area(s) on interest. If I can
   get such items at a bargain, I'll take them, but I would not
   pay a premium for them.  And if I do get them at a bargain,
   it is a sale that would have otherwise either not happened,
   or happened at an even lower price. So, is that a Bad
   Thing?

   When it comes to items that I know for certain I want, I
   bid the price that I feel the item is worth to me. That
   amount may range anywhere from minimum bid to 4-5
   times minimum bid. I will typically take a look at what that
   item (or similar items) has brought in sales over the past few
   years, see how that aligns with the value the item will
   provide for me, and bid accordingly.  The perceived value
   it will provide for me varies widely.  For example, a particular
   book may be considered a classic reference an area in which
   I have only modest interest, with only a single chapter devoted
   to an area of high interest to me, in which case I will likely
   be outbid by someone with high interest in the area for
   which the book is considered indispensable. But for a book
   that I consider indispensable in my area(s) of interest, I place
   a strong bid.  The same general evaluation process also
   applies to a coin.  If it's seldom seen, has great eye appeal,
   etc., I'll place a strong bid.

   I understand to some extent the complaint about someone
   always using minimum bids as a guide, in the sense that it
   generates extra work for the seller.  But I think that is just
   part of the cost of doing ANY business that involves selling
   non-essential goods or services. Even in the best economic
   times, people look for bargains.  They look for discounts
   and "deals," and dicker when they can for food, clothing,
   cars, homes, and lots of other things, including numismatic
   items."

   Dick Johnson writes: "Last week’s item on bidding etiquette
   was, in effect, polite restrictions on the bidder. When I was
   in the auction business I compiled a list of ten items to AID
   the bidder and included this in all my Johnson & Jensen
   auctions. This list appealed to fellow medal dealer Rich
   Hartzog who asked for permission to publish in his auction
   catalogs.  As in most of all numismatics, other dealers of
   the same specialty are more like friends rather than
   competitors. Permission granted.

   Numismatic auction houses wish to encourage bidders but
   do not want problems. Every auction sale has a "Terms of
   Sale" which every bidder should read.  This will eliminate
   those pesky problems. Every auction house has the right to
   set their own terms. Bidders must accept these terms.

   But how about suggestions to aid your bidding? Here were
   my ten tips:

   1. Examine the entire catalog a minimum of three times.

   2. Mark the lots each time, or make a separate list of the
       lots which interest you.

   3. For the lots you want the most, bid the absolute highest
      amount you would pay. Do not place yourself in the position
     of having to say after the auction "If I had only bid $1 or $10
      [or $100] more I would have won that lot!" Most lots that
      are lost could have been won by one or two more advances.
       ... Note: In most instances you will receive the lot for less
      than this highest amount–depending upon competitive
      bidding.

   4. For less expensive lots–say under $20–you may bid in
       odd-cent amounts. [Most auction houses now demand
       only full dollar amounts.]

   5. Then go through your selected lots again and bid on those
       you would buy if the price were right.  Ask yourself if you
       would buy this lot at  low estimate or below?  [Most auction
       terms reject bids less than half estimate -- waste of time!]

   6. Finally go through the entire catalog again to see if you
       missed anything you really want.

   7. Then total your bids. Very few bidders get everything they
       bid on. But don’t bid over your budget, or your ability to
       pay for any or all on which you bid.

   8. Consider checking the "increase boxes" on the bid sheet
        ("Increase my bid by __%)–if you can afford it. This is a
        technique for advancing your mail bids as if you were
        bidding on the floor in competition with other bidders in
        the auction room. It will only be used if necessary.

   9. Fill out the bid sheet. Be careful with your figures! More
       errors are made in this step than in any other. Remember
       – you are responsible for every bid on that sheet even if it
      is on the wrong lot, or the wrong amount!  The auctioneer
      must act on the bid sheet; if you give him wrong figures it is
      not his fault. Double check your bid sheet!

   10. Mail early! In every auction tie bids are awarded to the
         earliest received. "


NEW ROMAN COIN CACHE FOUND

   Arthur Shippee forwarded the following note from the
   Explorator newsletter:

   "One of the biggest finds of Roman coins ever discovered in
   Surrey has been unearthed on a farm at Leigh.

   Almost 60 silver denarii dating back to 30BC were located
   after Martin Adams, a metal detecting enthusiast, received a
   signal on his machine."

   "A short while later, the roofer received two more promising
    signals. He dug down and uncovered two more coins which
    turned out to be about 2,000 years old."

   "Within a few hours, 23 more Roman coins were unearthed,
    together with the scattered fragments of a pot in which the
    money had probably been contained.

   Surrey County Council archaeologist Dr David Bird was
   immediately notified of the find and an official dig of the area
  closest to the pot shards was arranged. The archaeologists
  dug out further silver coins - some at a depth of eight or nine
   inches - and the detectorists located more further afield on the
   same farm.

   The farm, the location of which is not being revealed for fear
   of unauthorised visits by treasure hunters, is owned by the
   county council and is tenanted by a farmer. The fields have
   been ploughed by generations of farmers."


MASSACHUSETTS BAY LOTTERY ARTICLE

   Louis Jordan has a nice article on colonial lottery tickets
   in the Summer 2004 issue of the C4 Newsletter published by
   the Colonial Coin Collectors Club.  The article is titled
   "Observations on the Massachusetts Bay Lottery of 1745."
   "Colonial lottery tickets are avidly collected.  Along with
   coinage, currency and fiscal papers they can be used to
   give us insight into the ingenuity of the colonists in addressing
   their significant and continual fiscal problems."


ROBERT O. RUPP TWENTY-CENT BOOK SOUGHT

   Lane J. Brunner, Ph.D writes: "It is often repeated by
   those who live to quote a nickel's worth of dime-store
   advice that misery loves company. If such vapid popular
   psychology is true, then have I got a story for you. It's a
   whale of  a saga, the substance of which, I am sure, is
   familiar to many of us.  This is just one more open entry
   in the log of any numismatic researcher.

   As readers of the E-sylum I am sure we can all appreciate
   the joy of finding that one detail that helps advance a
   research project or provides that missing shred of information
   that brings together an  area of study. But what if the book
   itself is that elusive prize?  I am not speaking of a rare,
   expensive, high-demand book whose resting  time in a
   dealer's inventory can be measured with a watch, but rather
   the nearly unknown, minor publication from an all but
   forgotten author.  The kind of book that when discussed
   causes even serious  bibliophiles to garner a look not
   dissimilar to a dog tilting his head at an odd sound. The
   kind of book for whose apparent need only a  compulsive
   researcher can fathom. Such a book is my burden.

   Several years ago, far too many years to quantitate and
   not be  embarrassed, I began work on a book about
   United States twenty-cent  pieces. My fascination with
   the series actually derived from the paltry numismatic
   literature on this coin. Namely, the articles,  book,
   columns, and the like I read stated essentially the same
   facts and legends.  Albeit each author's pen was different,
   but like  yesterday's spaghetti, it was the same, nonetheless.
   I knew there  just had to be more to this ephemeral
   denomination than what was in  print at the time.

   After endless tracking, I amassed much of the literature
   on double  dimes, including many primary sources. One
   book still eluded me. Then one bright day I was paging
   through the ANA library catalog, and  there it was; the
   book. The rain stopped, birds sang, and people  began
   using their turn signals. All was right in the world.  A quick
   letter to the ANA and soon, yes, oh so soon, the book
   will on its way  and I will be reading the words.

   The ANA's letter arrived on a dark and stormy night.
   Okay, fine, it  was during the day and it was only a threat
   of clouds; but reality is  far less dramatic. I opened the
   letter only to read that the book,  once resting quietly at
   GB20.R8, was lost. My heart sank, rain poured, birds
   were mute, and people drove erratically. Oh, how can it
   be?  What a cruel twist of fate the literary gods have
   dealt me. What  kind of world do we live in where books
   are lost from libraries? Is  there no end to this suffering?
   Okay, perhaps that is a little too  dramatic. Regardless, I
   was a bit frustrated.

   That was a few years ago and despite numerous hours
   on the web,  conversations with many numismatic literature
   dealers, countless  interlibrary loan requests, and letters
   to every Robert O. Rupp I could track down, this small
   book remains a phantom. This simple,  unpaged book,
   written 37 years ago in Fort Collins, Colorado with the
   unassuming title "The Silver Twenty-cent Piece", still
   remains at  large and has become my white whale.

   [This book has eluded my grasp as well. I tend to
   accumulate every title I can find, and often these odd
   little issues find their way into my library.  Not so with this
   one.  I've never seen the book, and was unaware of its
   existence until now.  If anyone can help locate this title,
   please let us know.  -Editor]


THE EARLIEST COINS?

   David Klinger writes: "Howard Daniel made a challenge to
   readers regarding the world's first coins. I thought that issue
   was long resolved by numismatic scholars, as the coins of
   Lydia (c 625 BC).   Is this issue still open for
   discussion/resolution? "

   David included the following text, taken from Eduardo De
   Resendes at the following URL: http://coins.about.com/

   "World's Oldest and Largest Piece of Currency Housed in
   Greek Museum Despinda Evgenidou, a fiscal archeologist
   and director of the Numismatic Museum in Athens says that
   a 3 foot long, 52-pound (24-kilogram) bronze ``talent'' that
   resembles a steamrolled sheep is the world's oldest known
   form of legal tender currency. It is also the largest. The heavy
   cash used in the 14th century B.C. was known as an ovelos."


COIN WORLD'S BOOK CATALOG

   Beth Deisher, Editor of  COIN WORLD writes: "I note a major
   error in Dick Johnson's comments posted in E-Sylum v7#37 for
   September 12.

   The product catalog is  not Coin World's. It is the product
   catalog of Amos Advantage, which is managed by the New
   Products department of the Sales and Marketing Division of
   Amos Hobby Publishing. While we are owned by the same
   parent company, Coin World is a different division. It's the
   same with ANACS. Coin World does not own nor control
   ANACS.  Rather, ANACS is owned and operated by Amos
   Press Inc."


SACAGAWEA COIN CRITICISM STILL PREVALENT

   Dick Johnson writes: "Americans are eschewing the Shoshone
   Sacagawea golden dollars - they don't use them for change,
   retailers don't want to stock them and banks claim there is too
   little demand for the quarter-size coins.

   In Cleveland, Plain Dealer reporter Christopher Montgomery
   reports that the Regional Transit Authority gets 300 to 500
   dollar coins a day, while a local toll booth on the Ohio Turnpike
   may only see five a week.  He quotes West Cuyahoga Coin
   Club president John Schmitt and coin dealer Gino Sanfilippo
   (ABC Art & Coin Exchange in Brecksville), who said "As
   long as people have a choice, they'll go with the bill."

   Sanfilippo noted Canada's success in issuing a dollar coin,
   then eliminating dollar notes.

   Full story:

http://www.cleveland.com/business/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/business/1094808609178651.xml



DENVER PLAY: THE LAST GOLD EAGLE

   We've occasionally discussed numismatic references in film
   and fiction;  a new short play being staged in Denver, CO is
   called "The Last Gold Eagle" and tells the story of "a retired
   mint worker ... who may or may not have stolen a gold coin ]
   on his way out the door."   Here's a link to a review in the
   Denver Post which calls "The Last Gold Eagle" the best
   among eight new ten-minute plays being staged in honor of
   the tenth anniversary of a local theater company:

  http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~415~2399158,00.html


NUMISMATIST AUTHORS SOUGHT

   Barbara Gregory, Editor of the American Numismatic
   Association's NUMISMATIST Magazine forwarded
   the following press release:

   "Numismatist, the American Numismatic Association's
   award-winning monthly magazine, serves as a refreshing
   review for experienced collectors and as an introduction
   to essential concepts for the less experienced.  Editor
   Barbara Gregory currently is seeking article submissions,
   particularly on U.S. coinage topics.   Authors receive $.07
   per word, with bonuses available to those who provide
   usable illustrations. Published articles also are eligible for
   ANA literary awards, which include cash prizes of $100
   to $400.    Suggested article length is 1,200 to 2,200 words.
   Send queries or manuscripts to editor at money.org."

   [It was a pleasure working with Barbara and her staff on
   the articles I wrote for Numismatist in the months leading
   up to the August convention in Pittsburgh.  We communicated
   largely by email, making the process fairly painless.  And it
   was a pleasure and a surprise when a check arrived in my
   mailbox - I'd forgotten about the payment.  E-Sylum readers
   have a wealth of numismatic knowledge, and writing for
   Numismatist is a fine way to share that knowledge with a
   wider audience. -Editor]


THE SEARCH FOR DURFEE

   Regarding the search for information on G. W. Durfee, Ron
   Haller-Williams writes: "I can't help feeling that Dick may be
   taking too narrow an approach in his reply to the query.  It is
   perhaps unlikely that engravings on prize cups and medals, also
   plates for general printing of pictures and even for postage
   stamps would only have been done by "she_is_now at yahoo.com".

   There is some family tree info worth investigating at
   1. http://bruce.graham.free.fr/family/oil/Family/TDURFEE.HTM
   "George Washington Durfee-[1896] 1 was born on 27 Apr
     1777 in Tiverton, Newport County, RI and died in 1824 in
     Belpre,  Washington County, OH.
     User ID:1896    Source [1] = Charles DURFEE"
    There are then some notes on census and other sources.
    The web page places him in context of the family he was from,
    and he is person #21 listed there.   No occupation shown there.
    May be too early, but he dis have a son George ...
   2. http://www.aladin.wrlc.org/dbdata/faids/html/GWberryman.html
    and
http://www.gwu.edu/gelman/spec/collections/manuscript/berryman.html
    "In July 1893, Berryman [a cartoonist] married Kate Geddes,
    the daughter of engraver George Washington Durfee."
    3. http://www.s-t.com/daily/02-96/02-25-96/zobits.htm proves
    my point, listing a PHOTO-engraver (Frederick J. Danis, 1904
    -1996) who had attended DURFEE High School!
   4. http://teachers.lakeviewchristian.net/anthony/Anthony_Family.htm
    Page now missing, search-engine extract is intriguing:
     "... Took over the English mint and was chief engraver and
     master of weights and scales during the Tudor period  ...  other
     relatives did. He married a Hope Durfee. Children: Abraham
     -1715 ..."


AUTHORING TOOLS

   Answering the query about software for authoring numismatic
   texts, Arthur Shippee writes: "It's probably best to learn what
   your publisher wants first.  Prior to that, keep it simple and
   something you're comfortable with.

   If it's text that you have to send as an attachment, try RTF
   or TXT formats;  if it's graphics, send it low-res. (72 dpi for
   the screen) first, unless you know they want and expect a big
   file.  Simpler formats should do at earlier stages, and then
   you'll discuss more finished products."

   Chris Hopkins writes: "The answer to Dan Gosling's question
   is -- it depends. Is the document for submission to a journal
   or a job going to the local print shop? Regardless, I
   recommend he create his document in the word processing
   or publishing software with which he is most comfortable and
   deliver it to his editors or publishers in a format that they
   accept. You must ask in advance.

   I have done a bit of publishing including several books plus
   numerous newsletters and articles. From my experience, the
   universal solution for print shop documents is the Adobe PDF
   format. While I personally prefer to work in Microsoft Word
   2003 or Microsoft Publisher, I use Adobe's Acrobat program
   to prepare those documents for printing. Essentially, the PDF
   is an electronic image of a "printed" document and is almost
   universally accepted by professional print shops as well as
   your local quick print shop (Kinko's, Sir Speedy, etc.).
   Adobe has wisely put their PDF specification in the public
   domain and there are cheaper competing programs.

   In the PDF you can embed images and specialty fonts to
   insure the final printed document has the exact appearance
   of your original work whether your print shop has a copy
   of your fonts or not. If the exact size of an image -- a coin
   at 1:1 scale, for example -- is important, be aware that the
   print shop may zoom the page image to fit the paper and
   you must discuss that possibility before printing, and include
   a scale ruler in the document to obtain accurate reproduction.

   If you deliver your document in any other format than a
   PDF with embedded fonts, you must ensure that your
   publisher has the same fonts. This is absolutely crucial if
   you are using an unusual specialty font.

   Another advantage of the Adobe Acrobat program is that
   it can also make a version of your document suitable for
   use as web pages on the Internet. These have a lower
   resolution than the print job files, but are quite acceptable
   for display on the 72 or 96 dpi low resolution screens
   most of us use with our computers."


CAPITALIZING ON A BUYER'S DELUSION

   Regarding last week's item about the Danish man who "was
   sentenced to 25 days in jail after trying to buy a pizza with
   fake banknotes," Morten Eske Mortensen writes:
   "I think you also ought to (much more important) report the
   Jail sentence of 30 days to a Scandinavian (Danish) coin
   professional for "capitalizing on a buyer's delusion".
   That is a jail sentence of wide repercussions for the coin,
   second hand, antique and auction businesses!"

   "The jail time was in this particularly case fixed as low as
   'only' 30 days and furthermore the sentence was 'only'
   suspended because of the fact, that the buyer had acted
   "very incautious" and also the convicted had a previous
   clean penalty list. The probation time was fixed at 1 year
   (opposed to the 2 years demanded by the Counsel for the
   Prosecution)."

   "The specific deal judged was about 5 Wilcke/Rubow-books
   with pasted, special banknote-’offprints’.  The sentenced
   professional person had not created the buyer's delusion –
   ’only’ ”capitalized on the delusion”....  A Judge emphasized,
   that the convicted ought to have known better. The convicted
   had been a professional for half a year. The selling party has
   a special responsibility to ensure, that the buyer does not
   "suffer from a delusion".


http://home.worldonline.dk/mem/info/faengselsdomforudnyttelseafkoebervildfarelseUS.htm


http://home.worldonline.dk/mem/info/auktionshusdoemtforatvildledeUS.htm


NEWTON DIDN'T KEEP THE BOOKS AT THE MINT

   From NewsScan Daily, September 16, 2004
   http://www.NewsScan.com/

   "With the goal of eradicating the all-too-common fear of
   mathematics, British science writer Karl Sabbagh offers the
   following story:

   "The popular idea of mathematics is that it is largely concerned
   with calculations. What many people don't realize -- and
   mathematicians at parties have given up correcting them -- is
   that mathematicians are often no better calculators, and
   sometimes worse, than the average nonmathematician. An
   incident during my first meeting with the Franco-American
   mathematician Louis de Branges illustrates that nicely. We
   were discussing the idea that mathematicians did all their best
   work when they were young, and I asked him when he had
   some particular insight. 'Let's see,' he said. 'It happened in 1984
   and I was born 1932. So was I over fifty? How old was I
   then... ?' He thought for a while, wrestling with the problem as
   if it were the Riemann Hypothesis itself, and then gave up
   (because the exact figure was unimportant, not because he
   couldn't  do it). Even the giants of mathematics suffer from
   this minor disability: 'Sir Isaac Newton,' said one observer,
   'though so deep in algebra and fluxions, could not readily
   make up a common account: and, when he was Master of the
   Mint, used to get somebody else to make up his accounts
   for him.'"


FEATURED WEB SITE

   This week's featured web site is a digital version of Barclay
   Head's Historia Numorum:

      http://www.snible.org/coins/hn/


  Wayne Homren
  Numismatic Bibliomania Society


  The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a
  non-profit organization promoting numismatic
  literature.   For more information please see
  our web site at http://www.coinbooks.org/
  There is a membership application available on
  the web site.  To join, print the application and
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  on the application. Membership is only $15 to
  addresses in North America, $20 elsewhere.
  For those without web access, write to W. David
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  P.O. Box 3888, Littleton, CO  80161-3888.

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